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Academy Award-winning filmmaker to introduce her work at Fairfield University

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robin Hessman will introduce her latest documentary, "My Perestroika," at Fairfield University as part of the free Russian Film Series taking place this spring on campus. Hessman will present her film and participate in a post-screening Q&A at 5 p.m., Wednesday, March 28 in Canisius Hall, Room 15.

This event is free and open to the public.

"My Perestroika" is Hessman's 2010 personal portrait of five childhood classmates from the last generation of Soviet children and their stories of dreams, hopes and beliefs that were dramatically revised by Perestroika, a 1980s political movement within the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

Hessman, who holds degrees from Brown University and the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, received an Academy Award in 1994, with co-director James Longley, for their student film "Portrait of Boy with Dog." She spent eight years in Russia, working for the Children's Television Workshop as on-site producer of "Ulitsa Sezam," the original Russian-language "Sesame Street."

She co-produced the Peabody Award-winning documentary "Tupperware!" and the PBS biography of Julia Child, "Julia! America's Favorite Chef." A MacDowell Colony Fellow, Hessman was made a filmmaker in residence at Boston's PBS affiliate to develop "My Perestroika," her feature-length documentary directing debut, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically in 2011 and played more than 45 U.S.cities. It also appeared on PBS' acclaimed series "POV."

The Russian Film Series continues at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 11 with 2010's "Exodus: Burned By the Sun 2" and ends at with a 7 p.m. screening of the 2006 film "The Island" on Wednesday, April 25. All screenings are free and open to the public and take place in Canisius Hall, Room 15.